Recently in CD Reviews Category

After a series of increasingly complex albums, the Decemberists step away from ornate chamber-pop trappings on their latest, an album with no harpsichord, no hurdy-gurdy and barely any bouzouki.

In fact, "The King is Dead" (Capitol) is startlingly straightforward, featuring 10 songs steeped more in American roots music than the English folk (and, on 2008's "Hazards of Love," prog) traditions that leader Colin Meloy has more often drawn from over the past decade. (Listen to the album here.)

The Portland, Ore., band's sixth album is full of acoustic guitars, mournful pedal steel licks and bursts of harmonica and violin. There are also lovely vocal harmonies, many of which come from Americana singer Gillian Welch. Nobody sings close harmony like Welch, and her voice hews to Meloy's as closely as the backside of a shadow on seven songs, starting with opener "Don't Carry It All."

New Haven band the Mountain Movers showed moderate levels of ambition on the band's first two albums, which were low-key collections of charming, ramshackle rock songs.

The group -- another outlet for Dan Greene, co-founder of New Haven's long-running, big-in-England indie-pop group, the Butterflies of Love -- favored meandering, occasionally dissonant guitar parts, backed with keyboards and held together by unassuming bass and loose drums.

Greene and Movers partner Rick Omonte on bass and other instruments (joined on this album by drummer John Miller and since replaced by Kryssi Battalene, pictured above) ratchet up the ambition, and the weirdness, on the Mountain Movers' latest.

"Apple Mountain," released on the band's own Car Crash Avoiders label, is psychedelic-folk concept album occupying three LP sides (or one 53-minute CD, which comes packaged with the vinyl, along with a booklet of lyrics and Greene's hand-drawn artwork).

Musical ability is easy enough to spot, but it can be tricky trying to pinpoint the less tangible qualities a player brings to a band. That said, Bridgeport roots-rockers the Alternate Routes would be a lesser group without guitarist Mike Sembos.

Sembos, who plays a supporting role in the band founded by Eric Donnelly and Tim Warren, is fully in charge of the Backyard Committee, a New Haven-based side project with songs he spent several years chipping away at before releasing them on a self-titled collection available online for free.

The guitarist and singer displays a knack for crafting solid pop songs shot through with bits of folk and country, for a warm, pleasingly worn-in sound (due, in part, to the ministrations of Greg Giorgio, who mastered the album at Tarquin Studios in Bridgeport).

By way of convenient summary, Yelawolf neatly summarizes his worldview on "That's What We On Now," the third song on "Trunk Muzik 0-60," his lively new "retail mixtape" on Interscope.

In a thick, knowing drawl over a synthesizer that sounds like marbles rolling around the edge of a metal tray, Yela extols the virtues of deer heads on walls, drinking beers, smoking Parliaments and "a pretty country girl in a pickup truck."

"It's a bubba thing," explains the rapper, an Alabama native born Michael Atha.

The Black Eyed Peas over the past few years have become one of the biggest acts in the world, and the secret to their success is no secret at all. In fact, it's a formula: take someone else's hit, put a robotic synthesizer beat underneath it and reach for the dumbest possible lyrics that rhyme and will stick in people's heads.

The band's new album, "The Beginning" (Interscope), opens with yet another bit of pop-cultural repurposing on "The Time (Dirty Bit)," taking a pinging synth line and the usual rotation through each member's partying-is-fun lyrics and wedging in the refrain from the "Dirty Dancing" theme "(I've Had) The Time of My Life."

In a superlative year for Connecticut bands, there's also been a disheartening amount of attrition.

For starters, Titles leader Brad Amorosino moved to California, which will certainly curtail his band's local activity. Next, fellow New Haven (and Springfield) band Aeroplane, 1929, moved first out of Connecticut and then, not long after, out of existence altogether. (Front man Alex Mazzaferro started a doctoral program at Rutgers, guitarist Noah Goldman tours with Brooklyn band the Spring Standards and the other musicians have other obligations.)

At least the quintet didn't go before releasing one final project. "Attic & Cellar" (Top Shelf), the band's latest and, apparently, last album, is a well-orchestrated song cycle dedicated to "all those burdened by the Past."

She has plenty of dance-floor bravado, but it's Robyn's mastery of catharsis that sets the Swedish singer, songwriter and producer apart from -- and well above -- her dance-pop peers.

Her latest, "Body Talk," collects five songs each from a pair of earlier releases this year and adds five more new tunes that balance the thumping abandon of club-ready dance jams with wrenching heartache. To put it another way, Robyn is the one dancing the pain away in a sea of oblivious revelry.

And calling "Goodnight Lane" a country album doesn't fully describe what Gilmore is up to on his second release. The singer and songwriter, son of veteran musician Jimmie Dale Gilmore, embodies a Texas perspective, transcending boilerplate Nashville formulas for a wide-open sound mixing folk and sunny guitar pop with country twang on 10 catchy new songs.

More than 30 years later, Bruce Springsteen's "Darkness on the Edge of Town" album is what it is: one of a string of outright classics he released between 1975-84 -- "Born to Run" through "Born in the U.S.A."

Now, with the release Tuesday of a new boxed set, fans are getting a glimpse of what else the "Darkness" album might have been.

"The Promise: The Darkness on the Edge of Town Story" (Columbia) is a lavish addition to the Springsteen canon, surrounding a remastered version of "Darkness on the Edge of Town" as it was released in 1978 with a rich array of archival material. The set includes a DVD documentary that has already shown at film festivals and on HBO, a selection of live performances including an entire 3-hour concert from 1978, and "The Promise," a 2-CD, 21-track collection of songs that Springsteen wrote for, and left off, "Darkness."

Not only is Cee Lo Green's gleeful four-letter kissoff the catchiest song on his new album, it's arguably the catchiest song anyone has released this year. And maybe last year, too.

That presents Green with a certain (enviable) problem: somehow keeping "F**k You" (watch the video here) from overshadowing the rest of his new album, "The Lady Killer," out today on Elektra/Roadrunner. Frankly, it's a problem with no solution, which is not to say the rest of the album doesn't hold up.

It's an eclectic group of songs. "The Lady Killer" doesn't have the same tightly focused future-soul sound as Green's other project, Gnarls Barkley, but that gives the singer a chance to show his wider ranging musical appetites with elements of vintage R&B, irresistible pop and even a couple of sleek spy-movie riffs.

Not to quibble with definitions, but there's nothing "post-punk" about Make Do and Mend.

Although the band's press material applies that tag, the West Hartford quartet has little in common with the likes of Wire, New Order or Mission of Burma -- acts that adopted the do-it-yourself ethos of the '70s punk scene and applied it to more experimental sounds. Rather, Make Do and Mend plays with the churning fury of hardcore punk in its full-throated latter-day incarnation.

"End Measured Mile," the band's full-length debut on Panic/Paper + Plastik, is a collection of volatile songs stuffed full of serrated power chords, battering ram drums and leathery bellowing from singer James Carroll.

In case you've been wondering whence Taylor Swift draws inspiration for her material, she clears that question right up in the liner notes of her new album, "Speak Now."

"These songs are made up of words I didn't say when the moment was right in front of me," the 20-year-old singer writes.

Indeed, there's little opacity here -- what you see in these 14 tunes is what you get. Well, almost.

Swift, one of the top-selling artists of the past few years, addresses former loves, chronic underminers and Kanye West. But there are also deeper messages hidden literally within some of the songs: letters capitalized seemingly at random in the lyric booklet spell out postscripts of a sort, as if Swift is punctuating these missives with one final word.

The Bridgeport group spent time touring behind its 2009 release, "The Sucker's Dream." Bassist Chip Johnson left the band. The rootsy rock band left its label, Vanguard, returning to independent status just in time to self-release "Lately."

It's the Alternate Routes' third and very much best album, the one that previous efforts hinted at and never quite achieved. Recorded in Nashville with producer Teddy Morgan, "Lately" strips away the high-gloss sheen of "A Sucker's Dream" on a set of songs that are warm, engaging and charmingly rough around the edges.

Smart move: Winterpills saved the best song for last on the Northampton band's new "Tuxedo of Ashes" EP (Signature Sounds), which means the unsuspecting listener will make it all the way to the end before succumbing to an irrepressible need to hit "repeat" over and over.

"Best" here is a relative term, however: Each of these six tunes is a miniature revelation, making "Tuxedo of Ashes" much more than a placeholder between full-length albums. (Listen to the EP here, and download a free song here.) Songwriter Philip Price has rarely used language more vivdly in lyrics that are impressionistic even as they are precise.

He and singer Flora Reed blend their voices in dusky harmonies over crisp acoustic guitar patterns fleshed out with electric slide guitar, tack piano, bass, drums and the occasional cello or synthesizer. Opener "Are You Sleeping (Cinnamon, Cardamom, Lithium)?" (a tribute to fallen influences, including Vic Chesnutt and Alex Chilton) blossoms from a quiet acoustic opening into lush sepia-toned vocal harmonies, while "Feed the Spider" interweaves various musical threads into an ornate arrangement that is at once airy and impressively tight.

Compelling as it is, though, the rest of the EP recedes in comparison to the title track. The song unfolds from a single acoustic guitar and Price's soft vocals, and slowly adds elements: tight, stirring harmonies from Reed, the understated plink of a mandolin, then drums, bass and electric guitar as the song builds to a soaring outro chorus featuring what the liner notes call the "Tuxedo of AshesMemorial Anxiety Choir," which includes Chris Collingwood, Mark Mulcahy, Erin McKeown and Grant-Lee Phillips.

It's a searing, deeply moving song capping an all too brief collection of songs from a band that is only becoming more essential.

(Price and Reed talk about the band's previous album, "Central Chambers," as part of this podcast.)

Making what sounds like the most effortless album of Guster's career actually took some effort.

Although the band sailed through initial recording sessions for what became "Easy Wonderful" (Universal), the musicians weren't satisfied with the results. A heart-to-heart conversation between drummer Brian Rosenworcel (a West Hartford native) and singer Ryan Miller during a break from the studio soon resulted in Miller writing half a dozen new songs that pointed in a new direction.

Thus reinvigorated, Guster jumped back in to recording "Easy Wonderful," a charming collection of breezy, hook-filled pop songs. It's the fullest full-band album yet from the group, which started as a quirky acoustic trio with hand percussion when Rosenworcel, Miller and guitarist Adam Gardner were students at Tufts University in Boston.

It's not as if Zac Brown came out of nowhere: the Georgia native has been making music with his eponymous band since 2002, in a career that includes four studio albums with the release today of his latest, "You Get What You Give" (Atlantic).

All the same, it's been a slow build for the Zac Brown Band, illustrated by the fact that it took the better part of a decade for the group to become prominent enough to get nominated for (and win) best new artist at this year's Grammy Awards ceremony.

The circuitous path to success has done the band good: it's given Brown and company time enough to develop a winsome country-rock style without undue meddling from the major-label mediocracy, and it shows on "You Get What You Give."

Earning buzz is one thing; maintaining it quite another. After ably doing the former on its 2008 full-length debut, "The Rumb Line,"Ra Ra Riot sounds like it's thinking too hard about the latter on the follow-up.

"The Orchard" (Barsuk) finds the New York band largely playing it safe on mid-tempo songs that feel carefully calibrated to not be disliked -- which is rather different than writing songs to be liked, or, best of all, writing songs out of the conviction that they need to be written, likeability be damned.

That's not to say "The Orchard" is a bad record. Most of the 10 songs are perfectly pleasant indie-pop numbers, full of lush orchestrations and wistful, airy vocals from singer Wes Miles. He sings with lilting '70s soft-rock appeal on "Too Dramatic," his voice surrounded by cello and violin; and his vocals float over a pulsing bass line on "Do You Remember."

The band sounds most alive on "Boy," a song driven relentlessly forward by drumming from West Hartford native Gabriel Duquette (listed as a hired hand in the credits, as opposed to a full member of the band); and "Shadowcasting," bright guitar bobbing over a deep bass line as subtle string arrangements spiral around the ebb and flow of Miles' vocal melody.

Despite the catchy moments, "The Orchard" is not a distinctive record. In fact, aside from showcasing Duquette's inventive, propulsive drum work, the only chance the album takes is that it doesn't really take any chances.

It's not that Mavis Staples ever really went away, but there have been times when she has been harder to find. This is not one of them.

The soul icon has been on something of a roll lately, paying tribute to the Civil Rights movement in 2007 on her Ry Cooder-produced album "We'll Never Turn Back," and to the Lord on her latest, "You Are Not Alone," out today on Anti.

Befitting the subject matter, "We'll Never Turn Back" projected a sort of stern grace. She's anything but stern on "You Are Not Alone."

Produced by Wilco leader Jeff Tweedy, Staples' latest is a joyous celebration of life and faith on traditional gospel songs and tunes by Tweedy, Allen Toussaint, John Fogerty, Randy Newman and Staples' father, Roebuck "Pops" Staples, who founded the Staple Singers when Mavis was just 11 years old.

If it's true in the arts that creativity and sexuality are inversely proportional, Katy Perry is out of ideas on her second album, "Teenage Dream."

Or maybe it's the squadron of high-dollar song doctors she hired to help her write these dozen songs that's feeling creatively tapped.

Either way, "Teenage Dream" (out Tuesday on EMI) is packed with lurid sexuality in the name of having a good time. In Perry's world, random hookups and partying to the point of blackout are synonyms for Friday, intense love is something to be infected with and California "gurls" are unforgettable on account of their Daisy Duke shorts and bikini tops.

It's entirely possible that Steven Mednick is the most prolific musician on the local scene.A lawyer by day, the New Haven singer and songwriter cranks out songs by night -- enough for seven releases since 2008, including his latest, "What Remains" (Cottage Sound Recordings). He has a lot to say, clearly, and he communicates in '60s folk-rock style, building songs around acoustic guitar and his voice, with adornment from electric guitars, keyboards and the occasional string arrangement and harmonica.

Arcade Fire's latest is the big new album this week, but it's certainly not the only new release: New Haven band Ghost of Chance joins the fray today with a self-titled full-length debut on February Records.

The quartet says it draws from "'60s psychedelia and '90s indie and alternative," with "hints at math rock and post-punk while maintaining the shimmer of classic pop sensibilities." Although all of that is certainly true, it's really just a complicated way of saying the band plays catchy rock 'n' roll with some unexpected twists and turns.

The Montreal band seems to run on a wringing emotional intensity, in concert and on albums full of lush, dramatic songs that have in common an earnest, restless search for deeper meaning in a world that more often prizes superficiality. Fronted by husband-wife duo Win Butler and Régine Chassagne, the group has established a balance between its sincerity and sense of theater, perhaps never more so than on its third LP, "The Suburbs" (out Tuesday on Merge, and streaming here in its entirety).

Arcade Fire's first full-length album, 2004's "Funeral," chronicled the loss of innocence that is an inevitable part of childhood, and the second, 2007's "Neon Bible," represented a wary arrival on the threshold of adulthood. "The Suburbs" circles back to themes from "Funeral," looking from a different perspective at growing up as part of a would-be suburban dreamland.

After releasing EPs in 2002 and 2004, the New London band spent more than four years making "Charge of the Light Brigade" (Cosmodemonic Telegraph) with Enfield producer and notorious perfectionist Michael Deming, who is known for meticulous attention to detail on gorgeous-sounding albums by the Pernice Brothers, Beachwood Sparks and the Lilys, among others.

There is indeed sparkling sonic clarity on "Charge of the Light Brigade," though it wouldn't mean as much if the songs weren't so good. But they are: the band balances these 11 tunes among warm guitars, vivid keyboard lines and stand-out melodies layered in prismatic vocal harmonies from guitarist Charles James and keyboard player Jaimee Weatherbee.

It's the sophomore slump they warn you about, but maybe M.I.A. should have kept her guard up for her third album.

After showing a knack for crafting taut, genre-spanning electro-rap tunes on the groundbreaking releases "Arular" in 2005 and "Kala" in 2007, Maya Arulpragasam has evidently lost her sense of balance on "/\/\ /\ Y /\" (say "Maya," out today on XL/Interscope).

It's a dismayingly heavy-handed collection, full of blaring synths and grinding, machine-like rhythm tracks that blend with jagged unease into a bone-rattling cacophony. Creating what she has called a "digital ruckus" was the point, but all that noise still can't obscure the fact that these songs rely more on strident platitudes than the fierce intelligence and nimble wit she displayed on her first two records.

Windsor duo the Grimm Generation describes its influences, on MySpace anyway, as "love, lust and longing," which sounds about right: Jason P. Krug (of Grand Band Slam favorite the Citizen Spy) and Carmen Champagne sing together with the easy familiarity of a couple well-versed in all three on their debut self-released EP, "The End of the World."

The six songs feature simple pop-rock arrangements of vocals and acoustic guitar, fleshed out occasionally with bass, percussion and faint piano. The collection has the feel of a late-night living room jam session that happened to end up on tape, which gives it a casual, no-big-deal air. That cuts both ways.

With a gentle repeating guitar lick and ghostly piano, "Hovering" is a lovely showcase for Champagne's throaty voice, which she drops to a breathy murmur. The tune is thoughtful and precise without crossing the line into fussy.

Other songs sound more like unfinished sketches: the propulsive bass line on opener "Keep It" gets slowed down by strummy acoustic guitar, the see-saw rhythm of "So Good For So Long" gums where it could bite down and the vocal harmonies are a little creaky on "I Fall for Everyone."

Quibbles aside, they're mostly promising songs, which makes "The End of the World" a serviceable introduction to a group that's most of the way there.

Mates of State had been talking for a while about recording a batch of covers songs, and a few of the tunes the Stratford indie-pop duo has slipped into its sets over the past year have made it onto "Crushes (The Covers Mixtape)."

The collection, available this spring at the band's shows, gets an official digital release today on Barsuk Records. It's an eclectic group of songs spanning 40 years of pop history, from vintage freak folk and classic rock to songs by au courant indie bands.

Mates -- Kori Gardner and Jason Hammel, who perform tonight with Free Energy at the Iron Horse in Northampton -- made some counterintuitive choices, including a solemn, swift piano-based version of "Son et Lumiere" by prog-punk band the Mars Volta, fleshed out with lush horn charts and layers of vocals.

Children's music, with a few exceptions, is dreadful. If it's not cutesy Raffi-style pandering, it's pop singers past their heydays banking on the good will of old fans. Then there are the jaw-clenching lullaby renditions of songs by Kanye West, Tool and Rotting Christ. (OK, one of those is fake -- but only one.)

Barry Louis Polisar is among the exceptions. Polisar, whose grandfather grew up on a farm in Colchester (there's your Connecticut angle), has made a career of writing smart, engaging music and books for children.

"I've always written what I think is funny, rather than try to talk down to kids," he says. "I've always given kids credit for being smart, and it seems my audiences are often kids -- and adults who are smart enough to grasp what I do."

He's perhaps best known to a wider audience for his song "All I Want is You," which played over the opening credits of the 2008 movie "Juno." Now he's the subject of "We're Not Kidding: A Tribute to Barry Louis Polisar" (Snail Sounds/Rainbow Morning Music), a sprawling two-disc, 60 track homage featuring renditions of Polisar's songs by mostly little-known musicians who boast of his influence.

New Haven band Talking to Walls demonstrated no small amount of ambition on its 2006 debut, "Naked," an album of Cure-influenced rock songs overflowing with earnest conviction.

The group (from left, Matt Miklos, Nathaniel Webb, Brian Kelly, Matt Krupa) is no less avid on its second full-length album, "We Were Not So Tall." These dozen new songs find the band expanding its sound beyond moody atmospherics into full-on rock 'n' roll. Produced with Greg Giorgio in studios in New Haven and Bridgeport, "We Were Not So Tall" is packed with rollicking guitars and galloping drums on songs displaying the breadth of the quartet's abilities.

After surprising even themselves with the success of their dance-friendly 2007 debut, "Oracular Spectacular," MGMT heads a drastically different direction on the follow-up.

There are few hints of sweeping candy-colored electro-pop on "Congratulations" (Columbia), which finds Wesleyan University alumni Ben Goldwasser and Andrew VanWyngarden dabbling in psychedelic rock.

Their stylistic departure is already the subject of much speculation as onlookers try to guess why "Congratulations" sounds so different. Early theories hold that MGMT was uncomfortable with the fratty fanbase that latched onto songs like "Time to Pretend" and "Kids," or that the duo didn't bother even trying to top the masterpiece that was "Oracular Spectacular."

In its original form, rock 'n' roll was a blend of blues, country and gospel music. Christine Ohlman practices rock the old-fashioned way.

With her band Rebel Montez, the longtime Connecticut resident takes rock back to its roots on "The Deep End" (Horizon Music Group), her first album of original material in five years. It's a varied collection, featuring contributions from Ian Hunter, Dion DiMucci, Marshall Crenshaw, Levon Helm and Big Al Anderson on 15 songs that range from brisk shuffles to subtle twang to shades of doo-wop.

What a difference a few years makes: Ken Will Morton was a promising singer and songwriter when he released his solo debut in 2004. Four albums later, he's grown into a potent storyteller.

"True Grit" (Sojourn Records), the latest from the Manchester High School graduate (who has long since relocated to Athens, Ga.), is a strong collection of folk songs with a country-rock edge. They're deeply felt portraits of hard-luck characters doing their best to get by, and Morton communicates their struggles in a raspy voice with an affecting catch in his throat.

Before I sign off and turn the reins back over to Eric, I wanted to bring a little attention to recent releases from a couple of great bands that have been fighting the good fight in the Northeast for years: Northampton's Fancy Trash and Maine's Rustic Overtones.

Two years ago, in August of 2007, Shawn Franklin reported that his band the Scallions was 99 percent finished with a new vinyl-only release.

Knocking off that last 1 percent took some time: the Enfield avant-pop duo (also featuring Franklin's brother, Mike Franklin) has just now released the album, "Sounds of Vinyl and the Past" on Mind's Ear.

It's a half-hour of music representing 20 years of band history, mixing new songs with selections from the group's archive. The album features contributions from Brian Jackson (who has played with Gil Scott-Heron); Brian Poole of Renaldo and the Loaf; and Nolan Cook from the Residents' touring band. The Scallions cite Renaldo and the Loaf and the Residents -- 1970s avant-garde acts -- as major inspirations.

The hit singles "SOS" and "Umbrella" made the Barbados-born singer and model (and former Stamford resident) a budding star, and it didn't hurt that Jay-Z is said to have signed her on the spot to Def Jam Records after she auditioned for him in 2004, when she was just 16.

Her powerful, expressive voice put her in rotation on Top-40 radio, and her extravagant style made her a magnet for the Perez Hilton-reading celebrity gossip crowd. Then, in February,

Rihanna reached a far wider demographic for reasons she would never have chosen when Chris Brown, her boyfriend at the time, beat her up the night before the 50th Grammy Awards ceremony in Los Angeles.

After pumping out tight blues-rock with his trio on 2005's "Try!" and dabbling in earthy soul on 2006's "Continuum," John Mayer returns with a collection of songs so smooth they barely stick on "Battle Studies" (Columbia).

Mayer says in the press notes that he wrote the album with "the timelessness of Tom Petty, Fleetwood Mac and Neil Young in mind. The melodies and message are concise and from-the-gut with the efficiency of simplicity."

In its original form, "Closely Watched Trains" was an Oscar-winning German film about a boy working at a train station in German-occupied Czechoslovakia near the end of World War II. The band Closely Watched Trains bears little resemblance to its namesake.

The New Haven group (which performs Saturday at Cafe Nine) plays a distinctly American brand of music on its self-titled debut (Twin Lakes Records), an album flecked with acoustic and steel guitars, harmonica, banjo and various percussion.

The New Haven band is awash in macabre lyrical themes on its full-length debut, "Tidal Eyes" (Wind-up), but pulsing rhythms and robust, poppy piano hooks imbue these 11 songs with the saturated colors and vaporous atmospherics of a Tim Burton film. Call it goth-pop.

Singer Coley O'Toole, a Shelton native, wrote the songs while recovering from what he has called "a truly broken heart," and there's a lot of dire talk of burying bodies, witchery and other dark compacts and desperate rain-soaked nudity -- not so different from this year's state legislative session, come to think of it.They're the topics that populate plenty of other bands' angst-ridden dirges, but the Queen Killing Kings steer well clear of that. The band, with two keyboard players, a bassist and a drummer, takes the music in a vibrant late-'70s rock-opera direction. There are echoes of Supertramp and Styx in the roiling piano and thrumming bass of opener "Dark Hearts" and buoyant melody of "Reinventing Language" and a bright, forceful piano vamp and full-throated vocals drive "Naked in the Rain."

The group slows down for "Like Lions," but there's an air of nebulous foreboding in the echoing vocals, relentlessly whirring synthesizer and distant second piano line. It just goes to show that whatever the speed, the Queen Killing Kings are masters of mood.

There are moments on his new album when Jay-Z sounds downright crotchety.

He's fed up with Auto-Tune, bored with the petty feuds consuming lesser rappers and restlessly planning his next move. Thanks to his incredible lyrical dexterity and contributions from collaborators including Kanye West, Rihanna, Swizz Beatz, Young Jeezy, Alicia Keys and Pharrell, it makes for compelling listening on "The Blueprint 3," his 11th studio solo album.

Crotchety or not, what's truly impressive about "The Blueprint 3" is how deftly Jay-Z has elevated himself above the rap pack. He's no longer preoccupied with the street-level view of what success looks like. Having found it, in considerable quantities, he's now surveying the landscape from his Tribeca loft, trading throwback jerseys for tailored suits and texting with Obama.

"I don't run rap no more, I run the map," he asserts on lead track "What We Talkin' About."

When last we heard from Tone Benjaminz, he was still known as DJ Stoutamire, laying down beats for the short-lived local trio Official Big League.

He takes full control of the microphone on his solo debut, "Same Game, No Pressure" (Tunecore/TBE/860). It's a commanding and forceful collection focusing attention on his resonant voice -- a menacing, velvety purr -- and imaginative musical arrangements.

For vintage sounding guitar riffs on muscular rock tunes, look no further than Hartford's own Mambo Sons.

The local trio recently released its fourth album, "Heavy Days" (Omnicide), a two-disc collection of 20 tunes in the vein of classic power trios such as Cream. Singer/bassist Scott Lawson and guitarist Tom Guerra co-wrote 19 originals (there's also a cover of Jimi Hendrix's "Stone Free"), which are clearly steeped in classic-rock influences.

He's never been flashy, but few performers have been steadier than country singer George Strait. There are only two, in fact: Elvis Presley and the Beatles.

In a career stretching more than 30 years, Strait has landed 44 No. 1 singles on the Billboard Country chart and released 25 studio albums, two live records, eight compilations and five Christmas albums. That's 40 albums, 31 of which have sold more than 1 million copies. All told, he's sold more than 68 million records.

Here's the secret to his success: Strait is Everyman. He picks solid songs with themes just about anyone can relate to, and he sings them with a hint of twang in his warm voice. His songs feel like home, and his latest, "Twang" (MCA Nashville), is no different.

It's anyone's guess why Paul Banks recorded his solo debut under the pseudonym Julian Plenti, but the singer for New York band Interpol even created a back story: solo-acoustic singer-songwriter quits music in 2001 to focus on writing and engineering, only to reemerge when a bit of computer gadgetry allows him to flesh out his songs to orchestral proportions.

Whatever. There's no mistaking Banks' stately vocal intonation for anyone else (that's him, second from left), even outside the context of Interpol's icy, gleaming post-punk. There hints of that sound on "Julian Plenti is ... Skyscraper" (Matador), recorded in part and mixed at Tarquin Studios in Bridgeport, but Banks pushes beyond Interpol's musical boundaries, too, with symphonic adornments and even acoustic songs.

Today, Rachel Lutzker and I discussed the towering musical achievements of former "High School Musical" star Ashley Tisdale, who released her second album, "Guilty Pleasure"; and Kristinia DeBarge, who released her debut, "Exposed."

Thursday's offerings: New albums by Connecticut resident Ian Hunter (of Mott the Hoople fame) and New York duo the Fiery Furnaces.

There's no question Ian Hunter is best known for singing "All the Young Dudes" when he fronted Mott the Hoople. There's also no question that he's done an awful lot since the band broke up in 1974. (The group reunites for a series of shows in London in October.)

It was his song "Cleveland Rocks" (covered by the Presidents of the United States of America) that opened "The Drew Carey Show," for example. Also, the New Milford transplant has released a slew of solo albums, including the excellent new collection "Man Overboard" (New West).

Hunter's solo material bears little resemblance to the glam-rock sound of Mott the Hoople. Like its 2007 predecessor, "Shrunken Heads," "Man Overboard" is rock 'n' roll with a rootsy cast and an emphasis on Hunter's wry, often gleefully cantankerous lyrics.

Dumb like hitting on 19 at the blackjack table, like trying to sell credit default swaps in 2009, like -- well, you get the picture.

Daughtry himself, name of Chris, is not dumb, not even close. The one-time "American Idol" finalist is very, very smart, in that he has managed to recycle 15 years' worth of angsty hard rock into "Leave This Town" (RCA), an album that is sure to sell hundreds of thousands of copies.

It's been 15 years since Wilco released its debut, "A.M.," and the band's history since then falls into three distinct epochs: the roots-rock beginnings, the fractured-pop middle period and the Era of Jeff Tweedy's Contentment.

The latter began, really, when band mastermind Tweedy completed rehab shortly before the release of Wilco's 2004 set, "A Ghost is Born." It continued through 2007's "Sky Blue Sky" and into Wilco's latest album, helpfully titled "Wilco (the Album)."

It's mostly an easy-going collection of songs, arranged and performed with great skill by what is surely the tightest and most technically adept lineup of a band that has changed supporting members frequently over the years.

The first half of Bronze Radio Return's full-length debut is an improvement on an EP the Hartford group released last year. The second half shows genuine promise.

Those songs, 6 through 10 on "Old Time Speaker," find the band relaxing into its strengths and forgetting about trying (too hard, as it turned out) to impress.

Once the musicians get past the impulse to ingratiate with displays of range or virtuosity -- urges that certainly fueled the wan stabs at suburbanite reggae on the self-titled EP -- they find a soulful groove that shows the beginnings of a compelling sound.

Not since Public Enemy teamed with Anthrax nearly 20 years ago has hip-hop been this heavy.

It's Street Sweeper Social Club, pairing guitarist Tom Morello with rapper Boots Riley on a self-titled collection of striking, strident songs that take aim at the status quo with devastating riffs and searing lyrics.

Their collaboration is a good fit: Morello's guitar anchored '90s agitprop band Rage Against the Machine, and Riley is the lyrical force behind militant left-wing hip-hop duo the Coup.

After nearly 20 years, America's foremost indie-rock band is back on an independent record label.

Dissatisfied with how Geffen had handled its past few albums, Sonic Youth left the label following its 2006 release "Rather Ripped," and chose New York indie Matador to release its 16th album, "The Eternal." As it happens, it's Sonic Youth's most compelling album in years.

The band has always had a penchant for musical experimentation that sometimes veers into outright noise, but "The Eternal" follows the path of its best work by balancing the musicians' avant-garde tendencies with accessibility on songs that are taut, inventive and sometimes downright exhilarating.

It's a fitting start to a heartfelt tribute: Dave Matthews Band's new album opens with a minute of noodling saxophone from horn player LeRoi Moore, who died last August of injuries he received in an ATV accident.

Moore's death seems to have shocked his band mates into a sudden sense of urgency: The group had spent nearly 18 months tinkering with ideas for a follow-up to its 2005 album, "Stand Up," when Moore died. The surviving musicians quickly finished "Big Whiskey and the GrooGrux King" (RCA), and it's probably no coincidence that it's their strongest album in years.

Edward Droste, singer and guitarist for Grizzly Bear, spent much of the spring writing to Snoop Dogg via Twitter, hoping to cajole the rapper into a collaboration. Snoop never replied, but no matter: Grizzly Bear's third full-length album turned out just fine without him.

The Brooklyn indie band clears away the sonic clutter of its earlier efforts on "Veckatimest" (named after an uninhabited island off Cape Cod), for a sound that's more focused, but no less eclectic. The quartet favors intricate songs with an experimental bent: layers of boxy guitars and dry bass mix with deep, rolling cymbal crashes, synthesizers alternate with piano and several tunes feature string arrangements and vocal contributions from the Brooklyn Youth Choir.

Her last album proved that she's more than a teen-pop also-ran, now Mandy Moore faces the same challenge any other singer-songwriter does: delivering songs that are consistently compelling.

She does a decent job of it on "Amanda Leigh" (Storefront Recordings), her sixth studio album. It's a low-key pop record in the vein of its predecessor, "Wild Hope," with one key difference: That album was the product of some serious emotional turbulence, coming as it did on the heels of her breakup with actor Zach Braff.

Eminem tries to head it off, tries to anticipate all the nasty things people might say about "Relapse" (Aftermath/Interscope), his first album in nearly five years.

"Let me guess: 'Another album about poor me,'" says fictional label head Steve Berman in a skit that comes toward the end of the album. "'I'm so famous, it has ruined my rich little life. And I'm such a tortured artist, let me make music about it, and my tragic love life.' Am I on to something here?"

Yup.

It's worse than that, though. "Relapse," the first of two releases Eminem plans this year, is 76 minutes of self-pity interjected with violent fantasies of rape and revenge.

The Republicans have fallen out of power, but all is not yet right in Green Day's world: There's still the matter of the Bush aftermath.

That's what the Berkeley, Calif., punk band hashes through on "21st Century Breakdown" (Reprise), the trio's first record since 2004's lacerating cultural critique "American Idiot." Like its predecessor, "21st Century Breakdown" is a concept album: three acts relating the story of Christian and Gloria, a young couple trying to make sense of life in the age of terror, torture and pervasive technology.

All that backstory wouldn't mean a thing, though, without the songs to sell it (ahem, Queensryche). Green Day delivers, with 18 epic tracks packed full of juiced-up guitars and soaring melodies.

Whatever else Steve Earle has done in a career that has taken him from hard-living country rocker to latter-day folk troubadour, he's never strayed far from the influence of fellow Texan Townes Van Zandt (pictured at right with Earle).

Van Zandt lived hard, too, dying in 1997 at the age of 52 after a life marked by prodigious substance abuse and a musical repertoire that ranks him as one of the greatest songwriters of the post-World War II era.

Van Zandt was never more than an underground outlaw-folk figure -- his erratic habits made sure of that -- but the likes of Bob Dylan, Willie Nelson, Norah Jones, Emmylou Harris and Lyle Lovett have paid tribute to his genius by covering his songs. Earle chimes in with "Townes" (New West), a loving collection of 15 Van Zandt gems.

Press material for Ben Harper's latest release talks at length about how Harper is rewriting "the story of modern rock music." That's hyperbolic, to say the least: "White Lies for Dark Times" (Virgin) is very much rooted in the past.

He and his new three-man backing band, Relentless7, spend as much time looking back as pushing forward on a collection of songs that draw as heavily on hearty blues-rock as on Harper's penchant for mellow pop soul. The result is a restless hybrid that never completely settles into the groove that has defined the singer and guitarist's best albums.

Ever since his unexpectedly vibrant return a dozen years ago to recording albums of original songs, Bob Dylan has been coasting. That was fine when he still had some speed -- 2001's "Love and Theft" was nearly the equal of 1997's "Time Out of Mind" -- but inertia has slowed his music to a crawl in recent years.

Despite a bright spot or two, Dylan's 2006 album "Modern Times" was a dull affair that hardly merited the widespread acclaim. Things haven't gotten any livelier on his latest, "Together Through Life," available today on Columbia.

Although Black Sabbath's best-known songs came with Ozzy Osbourne at the helm, there's a steadfast following for the music Sabbath made with Ronnie James Dio after Osbourne left, starting with the 1980 album "Heaven and Hell."

That's the lineup, with Vinny Appice on drums, that reunited two years ago for a thunderous arena tour under the name Heaven & Hell (so called to avoid confusion with the reunited Ozzy-era Sabbath, which is also still occasionally active). Now they're back with a crushing new album, "The Devil You Know," which reprises the best elements of the Dio years: the singer's over-the-top vocals and guitarist Tony Iommi's ominous doom riffage.

Ensconced at Stax Records as the house band, Booker T. Jones and the MGs made some of the liveliest soul music of the 1960s, usually for other people -- their own 1962 hit "Green Onions" notwithstanding.

After lending his considerable skills to albums by the likes of Otis Redding, Albert King and Eddie Floyd, Booker T. left the MGs and Stax in the late '60s, put out a couple middling solo albums and played a supporting role on keyboards for a dazzling roster of stars, from Bill Withers to Levon Helm to Barbra Streisand and Kris Kristofferson.

Now, 31 years after his last solo effort, Booker T. returns with "Potato Hole" (Anti). The MGs have long since scattered, and Jones is backed here by the Drive-By Truckers, who are becoming the new house band for re-emerging old-school artists. (The group also played with Bettye LaVette on her 2007 album, "Scene of the Crime.")

Although he's still probably best known as the howling, glowering voice of the influential '80s underground band Husker Du, Bob Mould has done plenty in the two decades since the touchstone Minneapolis trio broke up. He's made heavy acoustic solo albums, bristling power-pop with Sugar and even dabbled in dance and electronic music.

They all rear up on "Life and Times" (Anti), Mould's ninth solo album, and a sort of sonic retrospective that happens to coincide with the 30th anniversary of the formation of Husker Du and the 20th anniversary of "Workbook," Mould's solo debut. Accordingly, this collection finds Mould taking stock of, well, his life and times.

Proof that fame is a fickle goddess lies in the recent efforts of a slew of British musical sensations: Arctic Monkeys, the Streets and Lily Allen have each released second (or, in the Streets' case, third) albums addressing the suffocating effects of the massive hype that accompanied their earlier work.

Lady Sovereign joins the pack on her sophomore album. "Jigsaw" (Midget/EMI) finds the brash MC struggling to make sense of the whirlwind that has enveloped her in the three years since she released her bumptious, invigorating debut, "Public Warning."

All the (deserved) fuss over the album taught the diminutive rapper, who boasted about becoming "the biggest midget in the game," an age-old life lesson: beware of what you wish for, because you might get it.

The whistling got all the attention on Peter Bjorn & John's 2007 album, "Writer's Block," but the real heart of the record was the sturdy rhythm that propelled every track -- including "Young Folks," the one with the whistling.

Rhythm plays an even larger role on the Swedish trio's follow-up, "Living Thing" (Almost Gold). It's almost like a gravitational pull, with the songs pulled through their orbits by metronomic cadences at various speeds.

In many ways, the Decemberists' career path mirrors that of a developing dramatist: First came the catchy one-act set pieces, lovely, lilting indie-pop songs with a baroque bent on the band's early albums. They were followed by ever more involved story lines and themes, resulting in a full-length narrative: the 2007 song cycle "The Crane Wife," based on a Japanese folk tale.

The album, their major-label debut, mixed the chamber-pop sound of piano and various stringed instruments with dense prog-rock passages of that evoked nothing so much as the 1973 album "A Passion Play."

That is to say, the Decemberists are sounding a lot like their generation's Jethro Tull.

There's no escaping the grit in Marianne Faithfull's voice. It's the accumulated experience of 45 years in the public eye, in a career as notable for its downs as for its ups.

Things have been good lately: Faithfull has released a series of critically acclaimed albums featuring collaborations with a younger generation of her musical admirers, including Damon Albarn, Beck, Nick Cave and PJ Harvey. Faithfull presides over an equally illustrious crew on her latest, "Easy Come, Easy Go" (Decca), an album as engrossing as it is sometimes unsettling.

Not only did I get a chance to chat with Michael Bivins -- Biv of Bell Biv Devoe -- backstage while waiting to go on the Fox 61 morning show today, Rachel Lutzker and I dissected Kelly Clarkson's new album, "All I Ever Wanted." I still like the ballads best. Find out why in my review here.

By the standard of her second album, Kelly Clarkson's third effort was a commercial disappointment: "My December" has sold only a fraction of the copies that "Breakaway" did.

The fraction happens to be about one-fifth, which sounds bad until you consider that "Breakaway" was a once-in-a-career effort, and that "My December" has still shifted 2.5 million units worldwide -- an unqualified success by any other standard, especially in an era where million-sellers are increasingly rare.

Even so, the shameful controversy surrounding Clarkson's decision to co-write all the songs on "My December" -- epitomized by label head Clive Davis offering Clarkson $10 million to swap five of her songs for five of his choosing -- has certainly colored the way she approached her fourth album, "All I Ever Wanted" (RCA).

Avid fans will find plenty to love about U2's new album: the brash, clanging guitar parts on "Magnificent," say, or the anthemic refrain on "I'll Go Crazy If I Don't Go Crazy Tonight," which seems built to echo across huge stadium-sized crowds.

Novice listeners may want to start elsewhere.

"No Line on the Horizon" (Interscope) is a considered and nuanced work with significant depth beneath the dense, sometimes thorny exterior. Getting there, though, requires some work.

Singers with powerful voices often gravitate toward material that lets them prove it, but Neko Case demonstrates the power of subtlety on her latest.

There's no question that Case has a powerful voice: Her previous solo albums and work with the New Pornographers have made that abundantly clear. There are flashes of her power on "Middle Cyclone," too, though these songs owe more to the hushed intimacy of a sweeping expanse. They are pinpoints of light in a vast, dark space.

It wouldn't take much for the Alternate Routes to be a great band instead of merely a good one, but the Bridgeport roots-rock group doesn't quite get there on its second full-length album.

"A Sucker's Dream" (Vanguard) certainly has its appeal: The songs are catchy, their messages earnest. There's just not much happening below the surface. Not every album is going to reinvent the way music is heard, of course, but this one has the characteristics of someone who's content to be part of a conversation without adding anything new to it.

Truth be told, "Incredibad" is incredidumb, which is not to say this musical project (of sorts) from "Saturday Night Live" comic Andy Samberg isn't also incredifunny.

The album, credited to the Lonely Island and released this week on Universal, is a collection of songs that have appeared in Samberg's various digital shorts on "SNL," including the wildly popular bits "Lazy Sunday," with Chris Parnell, and "D**k in a Box," featuring Justin Timberlake. There's also a companion DVD with clips of those two sketches, along with "Ras Trent," "We Like Sportz," "Space Olympics" and others.

Timberlake isn't the only big name here. Jack Black, Natalie Portman, Norah Jones and T-Pain are included, too, which speaks to one of Samberg's chief talents: Persuading bona fide stars to step outside themselves and goof off. Jones lends her dusky voice to increasingly nutty refrains, eventually involving Chex Mix, on "Dreamgirl"; Portman offers a mock-violent and utterly profane description of an average day on "Natalie's Rap"; and T-Pain gamely makes fun of hip-hop excess on "I'm on a Boat," warbling backing vocals through AutoTune as Samberg and fellow Lonely Island member Akiva Schaeffer rap about, well, being on a boat.

This is not high-brow humor, but then it's not supposed to be. There are plenty of sophomoric sex jokes (the '80s synth-pop homage J**z in My Pants," for example) interspersed with scenarios that are flat-out weird, such as "Boombox," featuring the Strokes' Julian Casablancas. Off-kilter humor is a trademark of Samberg's, though, and while most of the songs here won't have much staying power, they're funny enough right now. Also, one suspects there are plenty more where these came from.

(WARNING: This clip of "I'm on a Boat" is the non-bleeped album version of the song. Listening through headphones is advised.)

After digging into Eastern European music on his past two albums, Zach Condon takes a new-world turn on his latest. The Beirut mastermind went to Oaxaca, Mexico, and hired a local 19-piece ensemble, Band Jimenez, for "March of the Zapotec," half of his new double-EP release.

The resulting six songs are stately and formal, but there's a festive air, too, in the dusty brass and crashing cymbals. Condon sings in a rich voice and adds touches on ukulele, trumpet, French horn and euphonium. The other half of the release, "Holland," features songs from Condon's other musical project, realpeople. It's airy, electronic pop music with layers of vocals. It's pleasant enough, though it's not as compelling as "March of the Zapotec."

Since parting ways with the Drive-By Truckers in 2007, Jason Isbell has finally had time to work on his own material. It shows on his second solo album (Lightning Rod), named after the new band he leads. It's a tight collection fueled by glints of the rock, soul and country that came out of FAME Studios in Muscle Shoals, Ala., in the '60s and '70s.

Isbell is an empathetic storyteller, giving vivid life to the desperate characters on "Seven-Mile Island" and sighing over lingering heartache on the spare, soulful "Cigarettes and Wine." If there was any lingering question about Isbell's prospects away from the Truckers, this album offers ample evidence that he's doing just fine on his own.

In rock 'n' roll terms, guitarist Jorma Kaukonen has been around roughly since the earth's crust was cooling. After playing for 45 years with Jefferson Airplane, Hot Tuna and as a solo artist, Kaukonen ought to know what's he doing by now.

Still, it's usually a pleasant surprise when an act of his vintage proves he's still got it as convincingly as Kaukonen does on "River of Time." It's a gentle record, full of blues and folk tunes that showcase Kaukonen's considerable skill on acoustic guitar.

Now that Coldplay has made the world safe again for moody piano-centric rock bands, no one has benefited quite as much as the Fray.

The Denver quartet hit the big time in a hurry with its 2005 debut, "How to Save a Life," landing the first single, "Over My Head (Cable Car)," in the top 10 on Billboard's Hot 100 singles chart and on a movie soundtrack. The second single, the title track, reached No. 3 and ended up on four different TV shows, including "Scrubs" and "Grey's Anatomy."

That's a lot to live up to on the band's self-titled follow-up, released Tuesday on Epic.

The second album from Scottish quartet Franz Ferdinand wasn't a letdown exactly, but it was certainly less focused than the band's knife-point debut in 2004.

Their third effort finds a balance. "Tonight: Franz Ferdinand" (Epic) is more cohesive than the group's second release, but not as overtly catchy as the first. It's the sound of a band maturing on 12 new songs that are less frenetic and more considered, starting with lead single "Ulysses."

Bruce Springsteen had such a good time making his 2007 album "Magic" that the songs kept coming after he had finished the record.

So he and the E Street Band are back, in relatively rapid fashion, with 13 more, recorded during breaks on the "Magic" tour.

"Working on a Dream" (Columbia), the New Jersey singer's 24th album, has less of a message than either of its most recent E Street predecessors: "The Rising" in 2002 was Springsteen's account of the tragedy and heroism of 9/11, while "Magic" was an allegory for, in Springsteen's words, the Orwellian "attacks on the Constitution" that followed. (Springsteen also released the solo album "Devils & Dust" in 2005 and the covers album "We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions" in 2006.)

Making music must be something akin to paradise for Andrew Bird, who has displayed increasingly effortless mastery of the form on each of the albums he has released since "Weather Systems" in 2003.

His latest is no exception.

"Noble Beast" (Fat Possum) is lighter and more varied than its excellent predecessor, 2007's "Armchair Apocrypha," and just as thoughtfully charming. More so, actually, given the jauntier feel of the new album.

Antony Hegarty is one of the most unusual and compelling singers in popular music, though "popular" is something of a misnomer -- his namesake band, Antony and the Johnsons, is beloved in indie music circles and not widely known outside them.

Yet if you're not singing jazz or opera, you're a pop singer by default. Hegarty is a pop singer, then, with a voice that flutters and trembles on baroque, semi-orchestral songs. They are not aimed at a mass-market audience. They are beautiful, vulnerable and haunting.

His breakthrough second album, 2005's "I Am a Bird Now," broke through in that it earned considerable critical acclaim (including England's Mercury Prize) and featured contributions from two of Hegarty's biggest influences: Boy George and Lou Reed.

Scottish quartet Glasvegas has turned out what ought to be one downer of a first record.

The group's self-titled debut (Columbia) is packed full of songs about death and despair, which meld neatly with the sardonic pun of the Glasgow band's name. Yet thanks to a certain screw-it attitude and massive, enveloping soundscapes, "Glasvegas" is a deeply engrossing and relentlessly catchy introduction to a group that's hyped enough in Britain to have already generated plenty of backlash.

Most of these songs rise to sweeping, atmospheric heights, full of clanging guitars and resonant percussion: opener "Flowers and Football Tops" churns with layers of guitar, and there's a humid snap to the drums on "S.A.D. Light."

Tom Jones is back, making the world safe again for chest hair with his umpteenth release since the 1960s, when he and his tight pants helped turn sex in pop music from an insinuation into an outright come-on.

Jones' antics look tame by today's standards, though, so the recently knighted Welsh performer adds to his job title on "24 Hours" (S-Curve). Now he's Sir Tom Jones, singer-songwriter. For the first time in his career, Jones helped write most of these songs, and why not? No one knows Jones like Jones.

Like all polemical punk bands since at least hardcore pioneer Minor Threat, Rise Against faces an elementary challenge: finding enough melody to keep the message from becoming a tedious, preachy diatribe.

The Chicago quartet pulls it off on its fifth album, "Appeal to Reason" (Geffen/Interscope), a collection of lacerating broadsides against what the band regards as American aggression overseas and misplaced priorities at home. Hardcore punk is a clear influence on singer Tim McIlrath, who flings accusations in a voice stretched thin with intensity on "Collapse (Post-Amerika)." He shows a more tuneful side with the sing-songy pattern of "Audience of One" and dials back the volume, if not the fervor, on the mournful tale of would-be military valor gone wrong on the acoustic "Hero of War."

That tune aside, most of the songs on "Appeal to Reason" are packed full of galloping drums and serrated, chugging guitars. The pummeling rhythm on "Kotov Syndrome" gives way to a bristling, tuneful breakdown, while "Entertainment" is a relentless, breakneck-speed assault on vapid pop culture.

There is an element of cognitive dissonance that comes with a band skewering the entertainment industrial complex from within the ranks of a major record label a coveted perch deep within the entertainment industrial complex. Yet Rise Against makes no apology for the seeming contradiction. Maybe it's a case of wanting to bring down the system from the inside.

Neil Young was just a sprout when he played a pair of shows Nov. 9-10, 1968, in Ann Arbor, Mich. At that point, just a few days before the release of his self-titled solo debut, Young, then 22, was mostly known for his stint in Buffalo Springfield, which had broken up six months earlier.

So it was an untested solo artist who took the stage those nights, one still finding the voice that he would develop into such a distinctive part of rock 'n' roll culture over the next 40 years. That makes this set, officially issued for the first time on CD/DVD, a fascinating historical document of the artist in development. When he's not singing Buffalo Springfield tunes like "Mr. Soul" and "Birds," Young plays tentatively on his own material. He tells rambling stories between numbers and even offers glimpses of songs to come: he plays a fragment of the melody to the not-yet-written "Winterlong" before launching instead into "Out of My Mind."

It's not the only sign of Young's burgeoning growth. His self-assurance grows throughout "The Last Trip to Tulsa," and there's never been a more riveting version of the title track, which features his most delicate guitar playing and prettiest singing on the album.

It's not unreasonable to wonder whether the title of Fall Out Boy's latest, "Folie a Deux," refers to the band's relationship with its audience.

Folie a deux is a psychiatric disorder defined as two closely associated people sharing the same delusional idea, and it would be just like Fall Out Boy to ascribe such characteristics to itself and to fans and conclude that they're all in it together on the band's fifth studio album (released today on Island).

That's the theme tying together Common's latest album, "Universal Mind Control" (G.O.O.D. Music/Geffen). It's a departure for the Chicago rapper, who swaps his vaunted sense of social awareness for lover-man rhymes aimed at stirring up the ladies.

After seven albums of thoughtful commentary, Common clearly felt it was time for a change on his eighth. But "Universal Mind Control" gets stuck in the same rut as so many other booty-jam records do: It's not all that memorable.

She certainly takes her time between albums: Dido's unhurried approach has resulted in just three studio releases since 1999. The upside is, they're subtle pop records with a sophistication that few of her peers can match.

That's definitely true of her latest, "Safe Trip Home" (RCA). It's a lush, but understated record that delves even deeper emotionally than usual as Dido sings movingly of the death of her father on "Grafton Street" and muses over a breakup on lead track "Don't Believe in Love."

She played many of the instruments on these songs, which range from simple and quiet to more involved and, well, still fairly quiet. Dido sings in murmuring tones, accompanying herself on acoustic guitar on "The Before the Day" and piano on "Look No Further." Collaborators including Rollo Armstrong (her brother), Brian Eno and producer Jon Brion, who's every bit as meticulous as Dido, help flesh out some of the songs with texture from strings, muted horns, ambient synthesizers and, on "Never Want to Say It's Love," a rubbery bassline.

It's a lovely collection, deeply felt, skillfully made and without artifice. In other words, "Safe Trip Home" is worth the wait.

(I chatted with Dido about the album recently when she was in town for an Acoustic Cafe performance hosted by WTIC-FM, 96.5. Here is the complete interview, parts of which aired this morning on Fox 61.)

Her husband Shawn Carter goes by Jay-Z and sometimes Hova, and her musical forebear Janet Jackson is occasionally known as Damita Jo, so why shouldn't Beyonce have an alter-ego, too?

No reason, really. So the former Destiny's Child leader created one for her third solo release, "I Am ... Sasha Fierce" (Columbia).

It's a double-disc album displaying the two sides of Beyonce. The singer bares her soul on the first disc, "I Am," with a series of pop-soul ballads. Her Sasha Fierce persona takes over on the eponymous second disc, an upbeat collection of edgy, techno-laced dance tracks that Beyonce calls "the fun side."

After an extended and productive flirtation with garage rock and punk earlier this decade in indie circles, sweeping, atmospheric rock is back in vogue, and few bands capture the sound as well as Low Vs Diamond.

The Los Angeles quintet -- which performs Friday, Nov. 14, at the Webster Underground with Barcelona and Paper Route -- bears the clear influence of bands like U2 and the Killers on songs that swell into ringing anthems while retaining a certain intimacy on its self-titled full-length debut (Epic).

With her booming voice and blistering, bluesy guitar work, Susan Tedeschi seemed like she was on the verge of something big in the late '90s.

Her albums "Just Won't Burn" in 1998 and "Wait for Me" in 2002 were gritty and soulful, and the Boston native looked ready to blossom into a latter-day Bonnie Raitt, not least because of her affecting cover of "Angel From Montgomery" on "Just Won't Burn."

It never quite happened, though, as musical currents shifted away from Tedeschi's blues-rock sound, and marriage (to guitarist Derek Trucks) and motherhood slowed her output to an album every three or four years. That was enough for Tedeschi to remain a draw in blues and jam-band circles -- she performs Saturday, Nov. 8, as part of the Music for a Change series at the University of Hartford -- but it didn't help her to establish a permanent presence in the mainstream consciousness.

Hinder seems like a band full of guys who watched Motley Crue on VH1's "Behind the Music," took in the fatal car crashes, the near-fatal overdoses and the bloated megalomania and thought, "Awesome."

It shows on Hinder's second album. "Take It To the Limit" (Universal), the follow-up to the Oklahoma band's multi-platinum 2005 debut, is a brawny record indebted enough to Motley Crue to qualify for an appearance by an actual member of Motley Crue: guitarist Mick Mars, who guests on the title track.

In a year of momentous political change, there's a lot of focus on legacies, be they the potential doings of would-be statesmen or the chaotic leftovers of departing White House occupants. But never mind politics. Let's talk about Ryan Adams.

How will music listeners 20 or 30 years from now view the New York singer and songwriter? They'll have plenty of examples of his work: Adams, 33, is perhaps the most publicly prolific artist of his generation, having released 10 full-length solo albums since 2000, including "Cardinology" (Lost Highway), his latest with his band, the Cardinals.

Then there's "20:20," the as-yet unreleased boxed set said to comprise an additional five full-length albums. Add to that the three records he made with Whiskeytown, and a collection of tunes from the Finger, his trash-punk side project with Jesse Malin, and we're talking 19 albums since 1995. (Plus, Adams produced and played guitar on Malin's 2003 solo debut and produced a 2006 album by Willie Nelson.)

After two studio records of retro-leaning R&B, the Ohio-born singer steps more fully into the 21st century on his latest (Columbia) with songs intended almost as much for dance floors as for candlelit boudoirs.

Legend breaks out busy hip-hop beats on "Green Light," raising his voice to falsetto on the hook before yielding to dazzling, ebullient wordplay from Andre 3000.

The success or not of an AC/DC album can be determined by answering just one question: How good are the riffs?

Iconic guitar parts have been the band's calling card for its entire 35-year history, and it's no coincidence that the group's best records -- epitomized by "Highway to Hell" and "Back in Black" -- are also the ones packed fullest with killer guitar riffs.

The Australian rockers don't quite rise to that level on their latest, "Black Ice" (released on Columbia and available exclusively at Wal-Mart), but it's a strong album that rarely skimps on gut-churning guitars. So how good are the riffs? Pretty darn good.

There are generally two roles for women in hip-hop. They can act like men, spouting tough-talk in songs full of bravado and macho posturing. Or they can play the role of simpering sidekick, fussing over high-end fashion and wearing the misogyny of their male counterparts as a badge of misguided pride.

The Florida electro-rap duo is unabashedly female, which is not to say that Jwl. B and Shunda K conform to standard ideas of what is feminine. Doesn't matter: Theirs is a strength far removed from the usual bitches-n-ho's claptrap that passes for insight in mainstream hip-hop.

Great art comes from tortured artists, or so goes the standard trope applied to sad sacks who write beautiful songs or paint compelling pictures.

It's just not true for Lucinda Williams, however. Her art suffered in direct proportion to her own suffering on most of the albums she has released this decade. Thankfully, the Louisiana-born singer and songwriter seems to have shaken her deepest blues on her latest.

"Little Honey" (Lost Highway) is easily Williams' least depressing album in years, which doesn't sound like much of a compliment until you consider that she sounds downright happy on some of these tunes for the first time in, well, maybe ever. And when she slips into a downcast mood, it's tempered by the wistful romanticism -- that radiant spark suggesting that one day everything will make sense -- that defines her best work.

Scrolling slowly across the radio dial 50 years ago in the desert southwest must have sounded something like the latest album from Castanets, complete with bursts of static and white noise.

"City of Refuge" (Asthmatic Kitty) is an eerie, archaic record, and even the CD version sounds as though there's years of thick dust packed into the grooves. And no wonder: Castanets mastermind Raymond Raposa recorded the songs alone during a three-week stay in a remote Nevada motel. He added minimal overdubs later from friends including Jana Hunter and Sufjan Stevens, but these songs retain a stark, almost hallucinatory quality that is at once disconcerting and deeply compelling.

Collections of previously unreleased songs and alternate takes are windows into a world of what-ifs, particularly when the artist compiling them is Bob Dylan.

One of the most important and prolific music figures of the past 50 years, Dylan is known for continually revising lyrics and re-recording songs in search, perhaps, of a definitive version.

The result is a wealth of different musical imaginings, which provides a fascinating glimpse of his creative process on "Tell Tale Signs." It's the eighth release in the "Bootleg Series" Dylan inaugurated in 1991 with Volumes 1-3, a boxed set of rare and unreleased material from 1961-1991.

This latest compilation picks up in 1989, shortly before its predecessor left off, and continues through 2006 -- "Oh Mercy" through "Modern Times." (Volumes 4-7 include three live performances and a movie soundtrack.)

If there's a grassroots way for a band to attract attention in the 21st century, it's online through blogs as least as much as through riveting live performances that build a fan base one audience at a time.

Cold War Kids has shown it's perfectly capable of the latter, but the Fullerton, Calif., quartet benefited immensely from the former starting in late 2005. That's when the band released the first in a series of EPs that built enough buzz for the group to perform at Lollapalooza in August 2006, before it had even signed a record deal.

Most of the songs on the EPs ended up on the Kids' full-length debut, "Robbers and Cowards," which gave the album a lived-in feel (even though the band re-recorded many of the tunes, largely because some of the original master recordings were lost through technology glitches).

It's without the luxury of familiarity that Cold War Kids releases its second full-length, "Loyalty to Loyalty" (Downtown).